on whether or not she will sign the bill. sb 1062 as it's known would clearly and for the first time in arizona spell out that a business may discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. interestingly, the question now about that bill seems to be less about will she or won't she sign it and more about why hasn't she decided yet? because momentum seems to be on the side of the bill's critics who are actually kind of bipartisan on this one. secretary of state john kerry told my colleague andrea mitchell that he hopes it doesn't pass. republicans, including mitt romney and the state's two senators also say it's not good for business. companies like apple, delta, american airlines and marriott are also opposed. even three of the republicans who voted for the bill, including one of its co sponsors, are backtracking in the face of the backlash. did i mention the super bowl? because that's at stake, too. you know that game that attracts 110 million viewers. that will be played in arizona next year.

well, probably played in arizona next year. some business leaders are worried that a backlash could mmarr glendale. they say we do not support this legislation. so, yeah, there's a chance someone will have a worst super bowl than the broncos this year. sorry, denver. last night governor brewer tweeted, quote, i assure you as always i will do the right thing for the state of arizona. so the governor's going to pull a spike lee and do the right thing. that's great. but exactly what is the right thing, governor? governor brewer so far isn't saying. >> i'm going to go home and when i receive the bill, i'm going to read it and i'm going to be briefed on it. we have been following it. i'll make my decision in the near future. i have until friday or saturday morning to determine that. let's bring in nbc justice correspondence, pete william. pete, all the momentum seems to be on the side of the bill's critics. why no decision yet? >> don't know. i assume the governor wants to make sure that she's fully

informed before she makes her decision. >> now just give us some clarification on the law, pete, because there is actually an existing law here that is amended. this is not an entirely new law. can you explain the difference? >> sure. arizona, like many states, has something called a religious freedom restoration act. congress passed the first fwhun 1993. it was in response to a u.s. supreme court decision about two members of an indian tribe church in oregon who were fired for smoking what they said was sacramental paote, an illegal substance. they said, sorry, just because you're in a religious organization it doesn't mean you're shielded from laws that are generally applicable to everybody. there's no religious exception. that's what congress didn't like. this he responded with this religious freedom restoration act. the one in arizona says, this is a quote, the government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from

a rule of general applicability, a rule applied to everybody. now what the law does, what the law would do, this law that the governor is looking at, is make a couple of amendments. first of all, it would not apply just to a person but to a business as well. so a business could assert a religious freedom interest. and basically what it would do is give businesses who refuse to serve someone for religious reasons a defense if they get sued. so that's how the law would change the current religious freedom restoration act. it would apply to businesses. they could go to court if they're sued and say, you know, it was our religious -- this is our religious freedom. it would violate it to serve someone if we believe that would interfere with our practices and beliefs. >> so, pete, there are people who are making the argument against the law saying, well, listen, maybe a muslim business owner will say, i don't want to serve christians or maybe the law could be used in some other way. somebody who had an objection, let's say, to a service animal coming into a business and say,

listen, i have a religious objection to animals coming into my business. could this law be used to discriminate against christians in arizona? >> here's the thing. there is also a public accommodations law in arizona. it makes it illegal to refuse to serve people based on a list of factors, including race, national origin, religion, sex, so forth. there is no protection for sexual orientation. this is why gay and lesbian groups believe the law is especially aimed at them. if like in these other states, say, people want to -- the two men wanted a baker to bake them a wedding cake, he said, i'm not going to do that, it 1r50i owe lats my religious beliefs, they sued, there's no protection in arizona law for public accommodations serving gay people. they're not protected under the law. this proposed law would probably give a business in that case a pretty good defense. not so clear if a business owner

said, i'm not going to serve you because of your religious beliefs, that would run afoul of the arizona public accommodation law. how much this religious freedom restoration act would be an escape hatch from that isn't completely clear, but it would be a much tougher case. >> one more quick question to you, pete. i want to ask about the question of potential constitution aalit. has there been any talk about whether something like this would be on its face potentially unconstitutional. >> there are many who believe it would be but it's an untested case. but the core of this is the notion that a business should have religious freedom. that is turning out to be a very controversial view, but it's going to get an airing at the u.s. supreme court next month because that is the theory of two businesses who say they should not have to pay for contraceptive care under the new obamacare law. the hobby lobby and a woodworking company in the midwest both say they're a

tightly owned, family owned business and that the family members have very strong religious views and that they -- those religious views they should not have to leave at the door in the conduct of their business. so does a business have religious freedom? can a business have religious points of view? that is a question the supreme court is going to look at next month. >> all right. i want to bring in democratic strategist and msnbc contributor jimmy williams. what about that argument, that a lot of christian conservatives are making and saying, listen, if it's against my religious believes for a same-sex couple to get married, why should i be compelled to bake them a wedding cake or create the flowers. >> they don't want to bake a wedding cake, they shouldn't be in the business of making wedding cakes. it's simple. the same arguments that are being used by conservative organizations for saying it's against my religion to serve you or to photograph your wedding or whatever it is or to sell you an

ipod were the same ones that were used in the 1950s and '60s. it's jim crow back from the dead. i wrote a piece for this in u.s. news and world report. that's my biggest problem. they're cloaking racism and bigotry per se in the name of god. i'm a christian. i believe in god. if i'm in the public domain, if someone comes to me and says, hey, here's the deal, i'm straight and i don't like gay people, my response is great. how much are you willing to pay because i have something to offer you? if you're going to be in the business of interstate commerce, the constitution and the supreme court are clear, you cannot have separate but equal grounding. they struck that down. after the brown decision and after congress passed the civil rights acts, you can't just say i don't like you, therefore, i'm going to in the public arena not serve you or accommodate you or feed you if you have money for that proxy. it's against the law. >> i want to go back to pete on that question because the reaction to the discrimination that was taking place across the jim crow south was federal.

there was a federal civil rights act of 1964. we'll celebrate the 50th anniversary of that this year which actually provided that federal protection. there isn't similar protection for lgbt americans, isn't that correct? >> well, the supreme court has never said that the 14th amendment applies to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, that's what makes this a little bit tricky, because it would clearly be, as mr. williams points out, it would clearly be unconstitutional for a business to serve someone on the basis of race. that would violate the 14th amendment's guarantee of equal protection. that would be a very simple case. it's not so clear what would happen in the case of gays and lesbians because the supreme court has never said the 14th amendment applies to them. it's an emerging area of the law really. >> i want to talk a little bit about the local politics of this. let's bring in mary joe pitzel. she's with the arizona republic. there seems to be a substantial

chorus on this bill from mitt romney to john mccain, both senators from arizona to big businesses like apple, delta, etc. why do you suppose on a political level it's taking jan brewer so long to decide? what does your reporting tell you about her long decision-making process? >> well, the quick and easy defense is that she just got back into the state and to take any action you actually have to be physically present in the state, which then raises questions of why didn't she rush back if this is such an important bill. there's also a suggestion that she wants to let the pressure mount and mount and mount because that will kill this bill once and for all. this bill passed the legislature last year. this is its second go round. maybe you kill it off for good now and dash any hopes of bringing it back next year. >> and do you get the sense that there is a strong backlash on the ground that she's getting on the side of people who want her to sign the bill? >> not -- no. certainly she's hearing from social conservatives who see

this as a religious -- protecting religious liberties bill, but these voices are very quiet, maybe happening more in private conversations, but they are far outweighed by the folks that are urging a veto. >> all right. very important decision for governor brewer. thank you so much, mary joe pitzel. thanks to all of you. >> you bet. just a little while ago secretary of state john kerry sat down exclusively with my colleague, andrea mitchell. during the interview andrea asked a question that touched on a question we covered here. one about the widening of lgbt intolerance in you beguganda ant looks when we're close to passing a clearly discriminatory law. >> what's important is we're on the path. we're staying steady. we've made enormous progress in the united states and we will stand up for people's rights anywhere in the world because that's who we are in the united states of america.

i think this law in uganda, the notion that somebody for being gay would be thrown into jail for 14 years or otherwise punished in other ways is disgraceful. we've spoken out about it. >> secretary kerry also spoke very frankly about the situation in ukraine. he declined to speculate on the whereabouts of the country's missing ousted leader. kerry also had some advice for russian president vladimir putin whose recent testing of his air and combat readiness has been a concern. >> mr. putin should listen carefully to ukrainians who have voiced their desire for change. we do not believe this should be an east/west, russia/united states. this is not rocky iv. believe me, we don't see it that way. still ahead on "the reid report" they're making sure his legacy is not forgotten.

we'll look at how the community is struggling to heal and the nation is struggling on issues of gun control and race. next, house democrats try to force a vote on minimum wage after it stalls in the senate. is this a winning strategy for 2014? ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!" "action!" before chantix, i tried to quit probably about five times. it was different than the other times i tried to quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. it's a non-nicotine pill. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. that helped me quit smoking. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking, or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix, and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental-health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it.

if you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away, as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood-vessel problems or if you develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping, and unusual dreams. my quit date was my son's birthday, and that was my gift for him and me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. and that was my gift for him and me. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.s everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ugh. geico. little help here. i need>>that's my geico digital insurance id card - gots all my pertinents on it and such. works for me. turn to the camera. >>ah, actually i think my eyes might ha... next! digital insurance id cards. just a tap away on the geico app.

another milestone for the affordable care act. about 4 million people have now purchased health insurance through the state and federal exchanges. that means 700,000 people enrolled so far this month. the administration's original goal was 7 million signups by march 31st, but the revised estimate from the congressional budget office is now 6 million. the deadline for 2014 coverage is march 31st. yes, it's still february and even though spring feels as far off as november, the mid terms will be here before we know it.

and right now democrats have a three-part strategy, get around the house, keep the senate and focus on jobs, jobs, jobs. for his part, president obama is keeping his promise to stay off the campaign trail. instead, he's continuing his pen and phone tour talking transportation and infrastructure at union depot in st. paul, minnesota, today. so what's he going to say? well, the congressional budget office says 700,000 transportation jobs are at risk of disappearing next year without a fresh influx of cash. so the president will ask congress to pass a four-year, $300 billion transportation bill to replace one that's expiring in september. and, and this is a big and, he wants to pay for half of it with a one-time stream of corporate tax reform revenue, you know, because that's going to pass, and he also wants to announce $600 million in grants from the department of transportation. now to get your hands on that cash proposals need to be transformative, increase access to jobs, there's that focus on

jobs, jobs, jobs again and save energy and fuel. meanwhile, back in washington, house democrats are preparing to dust off one of the oldest tricks in the books, the discharge petition to try to force a vote on raising the minimum wage. here to help break down all of this complicated wonderful strategery, imy wail yajimmy wi. how you doing? it's been too long. >> right. >> i love all of this that you can do in the parliamentary process. explain what a discharge position is and is it a good idea? >> it basically says to the minority. hi, here's the deal, if you're in the minority, the democrats, you need to get a certain number of republicans so that we can get to 218, that's the half, that's the number. you have to get half the number of the house of representatives to sign a petition, sign this piece of paper that sits in the well of the house at the clerk's desk. if 218 members sign that, then a bill comes up.

wait seven days. comes up on the first or fourth monday. and talk in tongues and stuff like that. >> this gets around -- john boehner's big problem is that he can't bring things to the floor. he wants to only bring them if they have a majority of the majority. >> he's broken that brule 15 times already. >> but he'd rather not do it and make his members walk the plank on every single thing. >> that's correct. >> for things that are not popular. >> he'll make this a ploy. it's harrisy. when i say harrisy, i could soon run over somebody and not go to jill before john boehner would kill one of his members if they actually signed this discharge petition. democrats don't have the numbers. however, that's irrelevant. what viewers need to take away and understand is by pushing this every single day, every single week in the congress, in the halls, in the press, guess what's happening? >> right. >> those members are going to be forced at some point to probably bring up some kind of minimum wage. the other thing is the democrats

in the senate can put in a bill and send it over there. >> right. >> now it's probably dead, fine, it's dead in the house. every single time it's death by 1,000 cuts is what it is. >> it's death by 1,000 adds. what's good is to get republicans to take a stand on something that isn't popular. >> right. >> you're not to raise minimum wage and then you put up an adebayor. you put it up and run an adebayor. do you think that's effective? if they can't get policy through -- >> yes. >> -- can democrats hold the senate or pick up seats in the house just on optics? >> when i worked in the senate i did five budgets straight on the floor. they're coming up on budget season. the president is sending that up. no one pays any attention to the president's budget. that's not the point. the point is the house will sit down and vote after vote after vote on different budget things. one will have to be something like this. it may be a sense of the house, but the point is it will be used as a political adebayor by democrats against republicans. same thing in the senate. none of those things mean

anything. the president doesn't even sign a budget that's passed by the house and the senate. all it means is that for a week house members and senate members take tough votes in the dsec and the republican counterparts. >> krancrank out the ads. >> what are you doing sitting here? >> i have no idea. >> talking to you. >> that's what it is. let's talk about mark prior. >> sure. >> red state, democratic senator. this could put him in an awkward position, the minimum wage piece. >> every bit of this. mark is in big trouble. every poll that i've seen, he has problems. and it's not because it's obamacare. i think that's unpopular for him and that he voted for it. mark has a problem, which is a guy named obama is president of the united states and that's not so great in arkansas. other democrats in the senate are in a much better place in my

opinion. mary landrieu is ahead of all of her opponents. >> she's running affirmatively and accusing bobby jindal of turning down your tax money. >> the guy who attacksed the president. >> we could do this, go on all day because i love it. >> there's 100 senators. we could do it all day. >> we could talk about each one of them, jimmy williams. my democratic strategist for the day. we're going to keep calling you that. thanks very much. i want to remind our viewers, you can watch the president's speech because he's talking on the economy from minnesota coming up in the next hour on ""the cycle."" nato is on board. mr. obama was clear on tuesday, even sign the bilateral military agreement or all u.s. troops will leave by the end of the year. today nato agrees saying they will also pull all international forces if there's no security pact in place. nbc's jim mickly chef ski spoke with general martin dempsey

earlier today in afghanistan. >> it is a statement that we have reached a point where we have to plan for other options, to include a complete withdrawal by the end of '14, but it's not an indication that we're not continued to be committed to a mission beyond '14 because we very much believe that the afghans need our help. lean bett, and that he travels the world inventing amazing new cleaners, like his newest invention, liquid muscle, that lifts and cleans tough grease with less scrubbing. it's a liquid gel, so it's less watery and cleans more. and its cap stops by itself so almost nothing's wasted. ♪ no matter where he went or who he helped, people couldn't thank him enough. new mr. clean liquid muscle. when it comes to clean, there's only one mr.

on expedia you can book any flight, car and hotel together and save up to 20% when you build your custom trip. expedia, find yours.

still ahead, reading between the lines in arizona. has religious freedom become today's version of jim crow? but first it's time for us to tell you the stories that you can't stop buzzing about on social media in a little significantmesegment we like to call we the tweeple. lamomba died of heart failure. as the democratic mayor of jackson, mississippi, he broke major ground. he got his citizens to accept a

1 cent sales tax increase. now as a social activist he represented rapper 2 pock sha pure. he also worked tirelessly for economic equality in his state. looking at your tweets and facebook posts he's already sorrily missed. next, spike lee is on your minds again. this time for a rant about gend genderfication. >> it's changed and why does it take an influx of white new yorkers in the south bronx, in harlem, in bed stuy, in crown heights, for the facilities to get better? the garbage wasn't picked up every bleep day when i was living in 165 washington park.

>> now spike went on to compare white gentrifiers to collision t christopher columbus. a harsh assessment of brooklyn a hot topic we will definitely be talking about. this is hilarious. you're also obsessing about paul rudd's hilarious lip-sync battle with jimmy fallon last night on the "tonight show." watch. >> take turns lip-syncing sections of well-known songs, each of us trying to lip-sync better than the other guy. ♪ should i be flashing by a lack of devotion ♪ ♪ should i? ♪ ♪ should i? ♪ ♪ now i need to keep on rocking ♪ ♪ you just can't top ♪ got to keep on rocking ♪ that boy has got to stay on top ♪

♪ let it go, go, go, go there's no stopping me ♪ >> okay. you guys really picked some winners today. you have some eclectic tastes. we can't wait to see what you get into next. next we'll join the conversation with fellow reid report fans on msnbc.com. keep telling us what's important to you. but there's one that's so clever, it makes your skin look better even after you take it off. neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% of women saw improvement in their skins' natural texture, tone, or clarity. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. recommended most by dermatologists. but there are some places even mr. clean doesn't want to lug a whole bunch of cleaning supplies. that's why he created the magic eraser extra power. just one eraser's versatile enough

to clean all kinds of different surfaces and three times more grime per swipe. so instead of fussing with rags and buckets, you can get back to the great outdoors, which can be pretty great. that's why when it comes to clean, there's only one mr. [ bird screeches ]

730 days, that's how long it's been since 17-year-old trayvon martin was shot and killed in sanford, florida. two years since his death, a death that began as a local story nowhere near page 1 in the sanford press, two years after that death galvanized the country to talk about uncomfortable issues about race, profiling black men and even the president of the united states weighed in, two years after that spark was lit in florida, the city of sanford is struggling with how to define itself and move forward.

the controversial law that came under be a lot of criticism and scrutiny following trayvon martin's death, stand your ground, is still standing. meanwhile, trayvon's parents have poured themselves into a foundation in their son's name. they're hoping to bring awareness to how violence impacts families and to keep the national conversation going. they're also still struggling with their loss. trayvon's father, tracy martin, spoke to the reverend al sharpton last night on "politics nation." >> the grieving process is something that only time will heal. when you lose a child the way that we did, unexpectedly, it's hard to -- just hard to put in the past. i don't think you'll ever put it in the past. >> trumaine lee is a national reporter for msnbc.com and ben crump represents trayvon martin's family. thanks to you. i want to start with you, trumaine. the city of sanford has been on the map one other time in

history, and that was back during the time when jackie robinson was denied the opportunity to play or sleep in the city's hotels. now they're known for this. how has that community reacted to this being what defines them in the public eye? >> long before trayvon martin's death brought the national spotlight to sanford and golds borrow, there has been a long history of racial strife, long history of economic suppression and so often communities like this bear the brunt of all the bad policies, policing and education. so as they try to move on two years after the death of trayvon martin brought all of this attention, they're still struggling with all of the issues. if you go down 13th street the main drag you'll still see a community suffering. they have to deal with all of the unhealed wounds. >> you mentioned golds borrow. we were down there and the pictures that are on msnbc.com.

that is the black section of town, the sort of old part of sanford that, you know, essentially was founded before sanford. >> right. >> but that was absorbed into the city forcibly. but it's on literally the other side of the tracks. that's not where trayvon martin died. >> no. >> he died in a gated community in the more ethnically mixed part of sanford but yet golds borrow still bears scars. why is that? >> because trayvon martin was a 17-year-old young blackman. >> not from sanford. >> not from sanford, from miami. he looks like many of the young men in goldsborrow. when this happened, this town erupted because they had dealt with so many travesties before and they viewed this as another travesty. they viewed the killing of trayvon martin as the killing of one of their own young men. it began on those streets in goldsborrow. >> ben, it also began with a family that was really looking for at the time just an arrest. it was about two weeks when this story was really very local and

the family was sort of crying out for attention, for justice and you came into the case to try to help them win that. two years later can you tell me how the parents of trayvon martin feel that the two years has -- you know, do they feel like justice was done in their case? do they feel they've advanced the conversation in a way that makes them feel satisfied with what they've seen in the last two years? >> well, they're heart broken still over the verdict that the killer of their own child wasn't held accountable, but they are remarkable individuals and they've tried to lead by example trying to be constructive with working on the trayvon martin foundation and to try to address changing these laws, the stand your ground laws as an appropriate legacy for trayvon. >> ben, a lot of people have been struck by sabrina fulton and tracy martin. similar things were said about jordan davis's parents. their strength and poise in the face of an unspeakable tragedy they had to live in public.

tell us how they're doing as people today? it's a very difficult day. they're not doing any public events. how are they doing? >> well, it is a struggle, joy, and you mentioned jordan davis' parents. i know tracy and sabrina have been in contact with them and so many other parents who lost their children to senseless gun violence. it's so interesting how they have accepted that role, how they've risen to this position to try to be an example for oars. it was funny, jordan davis taes father said him and jordan was watching tracy go through the struggle and the rallies. he said, man, i feel for him. i don't know if i could do that. and then he never imagined a couple of months later he would be in the same shoes as tracy martin having to deal with losing a son in a senseless way. >> yeah, absolutely. i spoke with tracy martin yesterday and he mentioned how close he had become with jordan's dad. i want to play, trymaine a

little bit of tracy martin. he spoke with reverend al sharpton on "politics nation." let's play what he has to say. >> it seems like it's an epidemic where the value of african-american kids' lives really don't mean anything. we've got to stand up as fathers, we've got to stand up as leaders and let this country know, you know, it's not okay to kill our kids. >> and, i mean, trymanine. tell me where you feel the state of that conversation is now? >> i think the question now is we've seen through the sparking of different movements throughout our history, you take these very emotional, palpable moments and turn them into political action. early on when you saw all of that energy swirling around not just the case but the stand your ground laws and even the president and attorney general eric holder said we have to look at these. but a committee in the state

legislature said we're not going to change one damn comma in the law. now they're looking to expand the law. not only do you not have any fear, you may possibly shoot into a crowd, a movie theater. even though we had the dream defenders and young active vitss pushing to galvanize around the changing of some of these laws, still dead on arrival. >> i mean, ben, as somebody who practices law in the state of florida, how surprised are you that the movement in terms of stand your ground, in terms of these gun laws have been to expand them. there hasn't been a single change in the direction of restricting these laws? does that surprise you? >> not really. remember, it's now the start of the florida legislative section and reverend al and others will join the victims of stand your ground on march 10th to have a stand your ground march on the capitol with jordan davis's family, alexander's family, trayvon martin's family leading the pack and even reaching out to chad olson's family because

they need to see the victims. the stand your ground law is not more important than the faces of our children who we've lost, the husband of that widow with two children. and then, joy, you don't know names like u.s. army captain michael jowles who was -- he stood his ground, was convicted for 25 years, clean history, no record. person attacked him. a story way more believable than zimmerman because all the evidence is there, but he's a blackman and he goes to prison for 25 years. so the law is a bad law and it's not been applied equally and we just have to fix the law. jordan davis verdict sent terrible messages as we said it would like trayvon martin, precedence set when his killer was not held accountable. >> thank you. good point about the state elective session about to begin soon.

thank you. for more coverage you can go to msnbc.com where you can read trymaine's article and thegrio.com for my interview. an update on the fight against sexual assault in the military. they testified about the link between assault, suicide and post traumatic stress disorder. it comes as "usa today" reports that they have disqualified 588 soldiers, many counselors, recruiters and drill sergeants for offenses such as sexual assault, drunk driving and child abuse. that number is 10 times higher than previously reported. i've, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. hmm? [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. thanks for the tip. [ male announcer ] no problem. oh...and hair products. aisle 9. [ inhales deeply ] oh what a relief it is. ♪

where are we until. >> someone took it. >> who took him? >> we don't know. >> of course not. >> two cars blocked him. it was definitely a professional job. >> let's just hope my father helps us find quinn. okay. if you don't know yet, i am a huge fan of "scandal." me and about 9 million other people who watch and tweet about the show, which is actually back

this week. one of the reasons that i love it is it's one of the few places in popular culture that not only captures the moment we're living in with some artistic license but is unafraid to show strong women navigating the mean streets of d.c. politics. in the case of olivia pope, doing it fiercely. and yet as a recent report from the women's media center points ou out, the gains that women have made in media, in tv, film, news rooms have flat lined in this century. only about 43% of tv characters are women. in movies, 28%. in america's news rooms, there are slightly fewer women now than there were 15 years ago. floor yeah stein number is the founder of "ms." magazines as well as the co-founder of the women's media center which is the co-founder of the report. this is quite depressing. we were talking in the break. it's 2014. why do you suppose we're still where we are? >> well, it's even happier for

me to be here because your show is one of the very few bright spots. essentially it's just gone flat since about '98 or '99. we looked at all the media platforms, at games, at movies, at directors, you know, just absolutely everything, and i think that part of it is that the resistance comes in the beginning to the first person. >> right. >> then when you get to be somewhere like a third it's like there goes the neighborhood. >> don't need anymore of that. >> yeah, right. so resistance comes again as it did in the beginning. >> right. >> we just have to plunge through that. >> do you think part of it is because we've done a poor job of bringing up a generation of women in management who can actually make the hiring decisions so there's nobody there on that front end to make sure they're diversifying their own work force. >> we're not the people doing the hiring of women in management. >> right. >> people in management tend to hire people like them or people who won't make trouble so in my

experience where a change comes from is from the bottom, not the top. >> yeah. >> it's from those of us picketing, boycotting, carrying on, saying we're not going to watch this show unless we see joy. and we need to do much more of that. it isn't all -- we know that it's not about biology. it's not -- you know, that's not the point. but if you can't see it, you can't be it. it's super important that people look like the country and, you know, it just is -- we have experience because we walk around female, we walk around latino, we walk around -- you know, that we can bring and really make a democratic media. we have to insist. >> yeah. one of the consequences of that that we see here every day, for instance, in the coverage of a political campaign, you have a potential presidential run by hillary clinton and yet the attacks on her are about her former husband's infidelity. you have a wendy davis running, for goodness sakes to be the governor of the state of texas

and the question is whether or not she was a good enough mother or she's being called abortion barbie by her detractors. those are the consequences about not having women make the decisions about what to cover. >> absolutely. i think it's deep and it's stereotypical. i think in a way many of the men who are in power now were raised by women and that was the last time they saw a powerful woman. so when they see another one, they feel they've been regressed to 8, you know? >> yeah. let me ask you for some sort of forward leaning steps. what do you think will begin to change this situation? it's a really dismal situation we find in 2014? >> well, again, i think it comes from everywhere. you know, the question is not what we should do, but that we should do whatever we can. nonetheless, i think the gender gap and the race gap in voting is huge. i mean, say in arizona now the question is what the governor is going to do next.

she as already lost the gender and race gap by as much as ten points. >> right. >> that didn't used to be true i would like to say. the republican party, some of us golden old disremember, supported the equal rights amendment, goldwater was pro choice. ever since the republicans have been taken over by extremists they've been losing the gender gap and the rates gap. >> it is sort of a real fixation if we're going to talk for a moment about the politics of it on specific gender issues to do with reproduction. that focus hasn't changed since the 1970s since 1973 and roe versus wade. >> we need to realize that's the whole ball game. if we didn't have wounds, we'd be fi -- wombs, we'd be fine. any racism or class by us makes it worse because them you have to control women's bodies as the means of reproduction in order to maintain that system, that

higher arctical system. it won't go away. it will change. >> i love that you said that because there is, i think, people miss the economic component of what you just said, that if women are not in control of their own reproduction, they also aren't in control of their own economic lives. >> that's true. i think that probably reproduction is even more important than production, which is why we don't talk about it. we talk about production more. but even if women were to be paid equally for the work we already do, equal to the white guy who's doing the same work, there would be $200 billion more in the economy and it would be a much better economic stimulus than rewarding crooked bankers and so on. so the whole country is suffering from the inequality that women feel and also we're paying tax dollars because the children who are most likely to be poor are the children of single mothers. if they were paying equally we would not need so many programs.

i mean, it makes serns sentences sentences -- sense for everyone. everyone. people who were raised in a different way and want to pay the unequal salaries so they get unfair profits are not the majority. >> right. >> they're not. >> but they have a lot of power. >> yeah, absolutely. it's something that more women in media would make that conversation happen on a much more regular basis. >> absolutely. >> such an important study. gloria stein number, what a wonderful opportunity to meet you. >> it's an honor to be here. thank you very much. we have developing news for you out of texas where a federal judge has struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage ruling it unconstitutional because it deprives people undue process. the judge has stayed the ruling from taking effect so that it can be reviewed on appeal. aflac. ♪ aflac, aflac, aflac! ♪ [ both sigh ] ♪ ugh! ♪

you told me he was good, dude. yeah he stinks at golf. but he was great at getting my claim paid fast. how fast? mine got paid in 4 days. wow. that's awesome. is that legal? big fat no. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you at aflac.com. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you ♪ make every day, her day with a full menu of appetizers and entrées crafted with care and designed to delight. fancy feast. love served daily. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. oh, it's great. yeah. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan.

♪ new at&t mobile share value plans for business. our best value plans ever. for example, you can get 10 gigs of data to share. and 5 lines would be $175 a month. plus you can add a line anytime for $15 a month. sharing's never been better for business. ♪

a simple way to look at the

arizona law governor jan brewer is considering signing or vetoing. it leaves the discriminatory passages in place before the civil rights law of 1964. as you heard earlier in the show, the real origins of the law are much more recent and also ironic. right now about 1/4 of u.s. states have some version of the religious freedom restoration act and it's that act that sb 1062 is looking to amend. but the push didn't begin because of individuals having the religious rituals subjected to the criminal justice system, it started because of bigotry. last year a new mexico court ruled against the owners of a photography business that declined a lesbian couple who wanted pictures for their commitment ceremony. the photographer cited their christian believes yaian belie sorry, no service. they're pushing that and model legislation just like it and ten other states are looking to codify into the law. sorry, no service.

if governor brewer is torn over whether to side with religious groups who don't want to be forced to take wedding photos or make layer cakes for gay couples, she might want to consider the actual connection between sb 1062 and the jim crow south. for one thing, the federal government acted in 1964 to provide federal protection for black americans who simply wanted to go to a movie or eat at a lunch counter. there are no such protections for gay and lesbian americans. second, sb 1062 would take the individual protections against being forced to act against your religious beliefs and hand it to any individual association, partnership, corporation, church, religious assembly or institution or other business organization. and that means exactly what it meant in the jim crow south because arizona's current public accommodations law already leaves out lgbt americans just like federal law. this is an easy call, governor. and that wraps up things for

"the rode repo" "the reid report." "the cycle" is up next. >> i'm doing well. >> appreciate your commentary there. what's going on today, we have the president in st. paul, minnesota. we'll go to that live. i'm doing a little commentary on "house of cards." you guessed it. >> you are doing it. i haven't been to watch it all so please no spoilers. "cycle" up next. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community,

that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs.

call today to request a free decision guide. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. on expedia you can book any flight, car and hotel together and save up to 20% when you build your custom trip. expedia, find yours. predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented.

no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. i'm ari and you're in the cycle. at this hour, president obama and anthony fox are in st. paul, minnesota. they're pushing a new plan to revamp our nation's roads, bridges and mass transit hopefully creating jobs in the process. the $300 billion four-year plan will be paid in part by a corporate tax overhaul if it can pass congress. secretary fox says the current highway trust fund will run out of money as early as this august. that will jeopardize 700,000 construction jobs.

the federal gas tax has been capped around 17 cents a gallon. drivers from the northeast to the midwest don't need a reminder how bad our roads can be. the drivers $6.5 billion. jonathan, how about those potholes, do you have a view on that? >> i like to avoid them. >> i'm anti-potholes, too. >> that's all the time we have. it was nice having you on. >> thank you, ari, i appreciate it. >> $300 billion over four years. put aside the skepticism about getting anything done in washington. walk us through you there at the white house what you know about this and the plan. >> well, i think what you've got is the president again trying to get congress, trying to get the government to invest in infrastructu infrastructure. this is something he's been trying to do for several years. not just invest in it, invest in it ahead of time so